#noah1

He'd woken up in a bed which wasn't his own, and that was bad enough. The decorations of the room were lavish too, which made Soren wonder blearily if he'd stumbled into another hotel with Enzo and miraculously forgotten until his eyes landed on a robe hanging from a closet door hook and his heart had nearly stopped. He knew that robe. The last time he'd seen it had been on Stigr. There was a terrifying instance where Soren considered the possibility that he'd gotten into bed with the Swedish councilman and somehow couldn't remember how or why. Then his mind promptly discarded that world-shattering possibility in favor of the only thing that possibly mattered: getting the hell out.

Of Stigr himself, there was mercifully no sign. Soren barely noticed that he wasn't wearing his own pajamas either, or how much lighter his body met the floor as he crept out from under the sheets. The suite started to orient itself better once he reached the hallway, slipping into that ostentatious living room where he and the vampire had sipped their wine. Nearly free. Perilously close to sweating, Soren shifted around the corner, took two steps towards the front door and rapidly came face to face with a complete stranger. "You're not Stigr," He blurted, then cringed immediately, stepping back and nervously reaching for the wall. "I -- please don't shout! I know I'm not supposed to be here but I'm leaving right now. No one has to know, yeah?"

After letting Shawn know they were on their way to the restaurant, Jackson did his best to arrive as fast and as safely as he could to Noah’s clinic, which, wasn’t that much of a detour from his usual way home. He texted his friend, letting him know he was in front of the clinic and pulled into the small driveway reserved for clients, since Noah said he was ready to leave, so he didn’t feel like it would be a problem. He was still texting Shawn when he saw  Noah coming out, and then set his phone down by the space near the gear stick and unlocked the doors for him.

“Good evening, sir. I hope you’re ready for the best meal of your life.” He chuckled. “How is everything?”

It took Thomas a little over thirty minutes to finish what he had been writing, but as soon as he was done, he grabbed his keys and wallet and let Shawn know he’d be out to see Noah, before walking out the door. They didn’t live close and honestly, that has never bothered him... he was more than used to either using public transportation or getting an Uber to see Noah that it felt normal for him. He texted Noah to let him know that he was arriving and when he finally did, he stepped into the clinic and knocked on Noah’s door.

“You done? Do you have puppies for me to say hello to? Can I say hello to the puppies?”

Ever since Noah’s surgery, Jaehyun hadn’t been able to pay his friend a visit. He’d gotten way too caught up with his own personal life, but now that things were settling down and he felt like he didn’t hard to bury himself at work, he could stop being a lousy friend and go to Noah’s. They didn’t live that far from one another so after work, Jaehyun drove home for a quick shower, ordering something to eat in between red lights and once he was ready, he stopped by the restaurant to pick what he’d ordered and then proceeded to his friend’s house. He parked in Noah’s driveway, then knocked, raising the takeout bag when his friend came to the door. “Do you accept food as an apology for lousy friends? Because I have some.”

Rune had been wandering. Well, he viewed it as wandering but really he was lapping around the walls of the ballroom, watching, listening, simply saving information that he felt might be useful to him in the future. He couldn’t sit comfortably even if he wanted to so he resorted to stalking around with a look on his face that screamed ‘fuck around and find out’.

Of course, the hybrid got bored. He always did, so when he spotted someone who looked almost as uncomfortable as he did, he made his way towards them. He didn’t know them, but he saw the collar, assumed he was claimed already and the dragon didn’t care. Money hardly meant anything to him therefore claims didn’t either, he couldn’t find wealth to be a sole reason to respect someone when he had been swimming in it before this damned place.

“You look like you’re having a grand time,” He greeted, almost empty glass in hand as he stopped and stood next to him, “I think if we hunt down scissors we could cut ourselves out of this shit. What do you think?”

Sitting cross legged across from Noah, Alec reached out to gently brush the pad of his finger over a blade of grass. Beneath the twinkling stars and the blanket of night, it all seemed more vibrant somehow. Alive. As though if he stared long enough, he could watch it grow. “You ever think about how plants are, like... alive?” It took effort to drag his eyes away from the grass to look at Noah, his face gravely serious-- because this was serious business. “Do you think they talk to each other and shit?”

Call her a coward, but everytime she’d see Noah, she’d freeze. It wasn’t like she felt anything for him, because she didn’t. But the guy was hot and he was actually genuinely nice to her without the ultimate goal of wanting to take her clothes off so that was new. Maybe that was why she’d never made a pass on him or anything... because he was nice. So, despite the fact that she would whine to her roommate a lot about wanting him, Beth wasn’t doing anything to make that known by Noah.

When he arrived that evening, she was rolling on the floor with one of his dogs, laughing as she tried to keep the pet from licking her face. As soon as they heard the dangling keys, they ran to the door to greet their owner, leaving Beth on the floor trying to look somewhat decent. “Hey Noah.” She smiled as she got up from the floor and adjusted her shirt. “Was work okay? I took them to the pet shop like you asked me to.”